In the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,124,920 to Wenstrom et als. and 4,321,730 to Tolley et al. there are disclosed and claimed a method and apparatus for removing edible meat from Chesapeake Bay blue crabs which have been processed by being de-shelled, de-legged, de-fingered and the central body cavity cleaned, by positioning each processed whole crab body in inverted position over a discharge opening in a core box and then vibrating the core box at high speed to shake the meat from the crab body.
In my application for U.S. Pat. No. 541,092, filed Oct. 12, 1983, for Method and Apparatus for Removing Lump Crab Meat From a Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, the processed crab body is cut along planes which converge along the back of the crab body, cutting the shoulder bones and opening the lump meat cavity at its central cavity side, thus permitting removal of the lump meat from the "inside" rather than through an opening made by cutting the backfin at its knuckle.
This method of backfin lump removal, while successful for its designed purpose, has the disadvantage of cutting the crab body in half, thus making each half too small to be supported in the discharge opening pocket of a core box designed to accomodate only complete processed crab bodies. It has therefore been the object of this invention to modify the known core box to permit each pocket to accomodate and hold two of the half-bodies produced in the practice of my invention, thus permitting more universal use of the known apparatus for practicing the vibratory method of removing the remainder crab meat not removed as lump meat from the half shells.